Students learn importance of watershed quality

Tuesday

Jun 26, 2012 at 4:00 AM

By Paul Locher Staff Writer

ORRVILLE -- Working to give young people an appreciation of and concern for watersheds and their future is the goal of Jedd Stinner, a National Science Foundation Stem Fellow working at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center.

A resident of Smithville where he spent his childhood playing in creeks and developing a fascination for the aquatic life there, Stinner works with area schools to give students a better understanding of the factors that impact watershed areas, and what they can do to help improve them for future generations.

Stinner, one of eight people at the OARDC working in the field on National Science Foundation fellowship awards, said the organization's involvement in local watershed conservation dates back to 1998 when it became apparent that the Sugar Creek watershed was experiencing problems with siltation, pollution and an excessively high nitrogen content.

The nitrogen and pollution, Stinner said, was linked to antiquated and malfunctioning septic systems within the watershed, coupled with runoff from farm fields that included manure, fertilizers and other chemicals.

Starting in 2000 the OARDC began bringing in researchers to try to determine how to fix the compromised watershed, which stretches from north central Wayne County southeast to Dover in Tuscarawas County, eventually draining into the Tuscarawas River.

Stinner said researchers began doing biweekly samplings of nutrient concentrations, while at the same time developing a relationship with farmers whose lands drain into the watershed.

In 2007 the NSF began funding eight local fellowships, allowing the researchers to begin working with area schools to educate students about watersheds. Stinner said fellows have been working with Orrville, Dalton, Smithville, Hiland High School and Middle School, Central Christian and St. Mary in Wooster.

"Our goal," said Stinner, is to make students aware of watershed science, raise community awareness about the condition of our streams, and get students excited about being outside in general."

Stinner said, "Biology is a barometer of pollution," and it is possible to gauge levels of contamination by the populations of macroinvertebrates and aquatic invertebrates -- such as mayflies -- therein.

Through sampling the invertebrates in the streams, Stinner said, the Environmental Protection Agency has been able to create an index to score stream and watershed quality. Students have been able to help in this effort by doing stream sampling, using dip nets to get bugs from the water and determining whether the specimens are of good quality, which would indicate cleaner water, or poor quality, which would suggest a polluted environment.

In Orrville, where Stinner was winding up his first year of involvement, samplings were routinely done by students in streams and wetland areas adjacent to the elementary and middle schools.

"I think through involving the students in this type of activity, we can be better educators and better communicators," said Stinner, noting that between 20 and 24 students performed water samplings two or three times a week, rotating the activity among them.

On a spring morning, a sophomore biology class taught by Julie Lightfoot visited the stream that runs through Orr Park to do a first-time sampling for fecal coliform and E. coli. Class members took samples at certain points suggested by Stinner, then returned to the classroom to put the samples into media in petri dishes for a 48-hour incubation. After that, Stinner said, students would be able to make observations as to the type and density of fecal colonies in the stream.

Lightfoot said she hopes students come away from the experience of working with the watershed with a realization of "how we come in contact with science daily, and how biology is a part of everything in life."

"I don't think kids understand how we (humans) impact various areas of our environment," said Lightfoot. "This is a way we can illustrate how we affect one area of our environment, since many of these kids have grown up playing in this stream."

Stinner said Orrville schools are working to obtain sophisticated electronic instruments that would allow them to do "real-time" sampling of the wetlands, rather than waiting for laboratory results.

Describing the device as "a little iPad," Stinner said it would be effective in demonstrating to students "how steams change just during the course of a day, and during a week."

Stinner said the National Science Foundation grants that fund his position expire at the end of this year, and he is hopeful the funding for the jobs will be picked up by the Ohio State University.

He has also worked to help organize the Sugar Creek Farmer Partners group which meets three or four times annually -- typically during the winter months -- to review data collection from the watershed and discuss fertility practices.

"We want to work with the farmers so that the EPA doesn't have to get involved," said Stinner. He said the discussions, held at Fisher Auditorium, typically attract about a dozen farmers, with the younger ones seemingly the most interested.

Stinner said that while it may be as long as another decade until the Sugar Creek watershed attains the targeted levels of pollution, he thinks the message is now being effectively communicated that area residents "need to work to preserve and conserve their most precious resource -- which has a connection to the local community," and which bears directly on aesthetics, recreation, groundwater and drinking water.

Reporter Paul Locher can be reached at 330-682-2055 or plocher@the-daily-record.com.